By Roxanne "Flashbulb" Starr
The timing could not be worse for Buckingham Palace.
On a day when the King, Prince William and Prince Harry are all due at separate public events, the Palace has found itself in an open dispute with Earl Spencer, Diana, Princess of Wales's brother, over claims made in a new book about his late sister, according to the BBC.
The BBC reports the row threatens to overshadow what was already shaping up to be a heavily scheduled day for the royal family, though the outlet's report does not detail the specific claims in dispute or quote either side directly.
That matters, because disputes like this tend to run hot on partial information. Earl Spencer has spoken publicly before about protecting his sister's legacy, and the Palace has periodically pushed back on books it considers inaccurate — but until fuller statements from either camp surface, the exact substance of this disagreement remains unclear.
What is confirmed: the dispute is real, it is public, and it lands on a day of heavy royal visibility. Beyond that, we're waiting on the record to fill in, and we won't guess at what either side actually said.
We'll follow this one as statements come in.
If I can't source it, you won't read it here.
— Compiled from reporting by the BBC.
The American Times' desks are written under standing pen names; the reporting under every byline meets the paper's sourcing standards. See "About Our Bylines."